CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
· Foster enters his third year of his second stint on the Penn State Track & Field Coaching staff in 2023-24. This season will be Foster’s second as Associate Head Coach following two years as an assistant coach. He will continue to mentor Penn State’s middle distance and cross country groups following a successful 2023-24 campaign.
· Over the course of his coaching career, Foster has coached 26 All-American performances, 32 Conference Champions, and nine freshmen of the year and has been awarded three USTFCCCA Coach of the Year honors and one Conference Coach of the Year (PSAC) honor for his efforts. In just his first three seasons back in Happy Valley, Foster has seen 12 school records broken, has coached 13 All-American performances, and has received one USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year honor.
AT PENN STATE
· Foster’s coaching helped both Hayley Kitching and Handal Roban, as well as Yukichi Ishii, qualify to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 800-meter run. Representing the Nittany Lions, Kitching finished fifth in the nation, securing her second First Team All-America result of the year with her third-straight 2:01 outing, closing out her NCAA season strong. Roban finished a Second Team All-American at the outdoor championships. Ishii’s development during his years as a Nittany Lion was put on full display at the NCAA East Region Preliminaries as he dropped a 1:46.22 in the men’s 800-meter run to qualify for his first NCAA Championships. The time is the seventh-fastest ever run by a Penn State athlete and was over a full second faster than his previous PR. At the conference level, Roban brought home a Big Ten bronze medal in the men’s 800-meters while Kitching won the women’s 800 title with a 2:02.54 meet record.
· During the 2023-24 indoor season, Foster’s work with Penn State’s excellent middle-distance squad showed once again, as Handal Roban and Hayley Kitching both earned First Team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800-meter run, while Maddie Ullom and Victoria Vanriele each collected First Team honors on the Nittany Lions’ DMR squad. Roban’s effort in the indoor 800 helped the Penn State men finish 21st in the country as a team, the group’s highest placement at the national meet since 2018. At the conference level, Foster’s work with the mid-distance squad produced three Big Ten titles, two from Kitching (600m, 800m) and one from Roban (600m), at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Kitching took home Big Ten Women’s Track Athlete of the Championships for her Herculean effort at the conference meet. Foster guided the Coffs Harbour native to individual school records in the 600 and 800-meter runs during the 2024 indoor season. Kitching was also on Penn State’s school record-setting indoor DMR squad that ran the No. 7 mark in NCAA history, a ridiculous 10:49.05 effort.
· Foster helped coach the Penn State women’s cross country team to its first NCAA Championships appearance as a team since 2019. Four Nittany Lion women earned All-Region honors as the team placed second at the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet to secure its spot in the championship race. The Penn State men placed fourth at regionals, with two runners securing All-Region recognition for their top-25 finishes in the race. His work with the women’s group showed at the conference level as well, as Ullom became Penn State’s first First Team All-Big Ten honoree in cross country since Jillian Hunsberger in 2017.
· Outside of NCAA competition in 2024, Foster’s athletes performed extraordinarily well. First, Kitching placed fifth in the Australian National Championships in the 800-meter run. While at the championships, she became the first Penn State woman ever to go sub-2:01 in the 800, clocking a 2:00.70 for the school record. Darius Smallwood continued to improve and clocked a 1:46.17 at the Portland Track Festival in the 800, a few weeks before advancing to the semifinals of the USATF Olympic Trials in the event. Finally, Handal Roban’s 1:45.36 over 800 meters from the Penn Relays Summer Showcase in June moved him up to No. 3 on Penn State’s all-time list and bettered his own national record for his home country of St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
· During the summer of 2023, Foster traveled to Budapest, Hungary for the 2023 World Athletics Championships as the coach of Nittany Lion 800-meter standout Roban as he represented St. Vincent & the Grenadines in the event. Foster mentored Roban throughout the summer as he set Penn State’s No. 4 800-meter time ever with a 1:45.93 in his gold medal run at the Central American and Caribbean Games. He also coached Rachel Gearing as she obliterated Penn State’s 800-meter school record at the USATF National Championships with a 2:01.24.
· Penn State’s middle-distance/distance crew, under Foster’s guidance, produced three All-Americans during the 2023 outdoor season, highlighted by Roban’s NCAA Bronze in the 800 and Evan Dorenkamp’s eighth-place finish in the 1500. For the second season in a row, Foster coached a school record-setting, Championship of America-winning women’s 4x800 squad as this season, Hayley Kitching, Maddie Ullom, Allison Johnson, and Gearing set the school record with an 8:23.81.
· Foster earned USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year following the 2023 indoor campaign thanks to some outstanding performances throughout the season. He coached an NCAA First Team All-American (Roban), three Big Ten Champions (Faith DeMars, Gearing, Olivier Desmeules), a school record (DeMars), a pair of Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Roban, Kitching), and the USTFCCCA Men’s Track Athlete of the Year (Roban). Foster also mentored sixth-year senior Brandon Hontz to a 3:59.13 effort in the mile.
· Three Penn State athletes earned All-Region nods during the 2022 cross country season. DeMars, Kileigh Kane, and Brandon Hontz all placed top-25 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships.
· On the track in 2022, Foster coached Dorenkamp, Allison Johnson, and Victoria Tachinski to a Second Team All-America honors during the indoor season and both he and Head Coach John Gondak led Penn State’s 4x800m relay team of Victoria Vanriele, Gearing, Maddie Ullom and Victoria Tachinski to a then-program record time of 8:24.49 as they won the Penn Relays Championship of America in the event. Additionally, Johnson set Penn State’s indoor school record in the indoor 800 as a true freshman, going 2:02.84 for the top spot.
· To begin the 2021-22 school year, both of Penn State's men's and women's cross country teams placed in the top five at NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional with a total of four Nittany Lions - Alison Willingmyre, Eric Hamel, Dorenkamp, and Connor McMenamin - claiming all-region honors.
BEFORE PENN STATE
· Foster spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Tennessee where he guided the Volunteers’ middle-distance group and assisted in the coaching of the school’s cross country programs.
· Foster’s first two cross country seasons at Tennessee saw the Vols and Lady Vols record their best postseason performances in more than a decade. In 2018, the men’s team tabbed their best SEC (4th) and NCAA Regional (3rd) finishes since 2010 and 2002. In 2019, the Lady Vols posted their best conference (4th) and regional (3rd) outings since 2009.
· In 2021, Foster mentored middle distance runner Alex Kay to a UT freshman record in the men’s 1,000 meters (2:26.97) at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Kay later went on to earn SEC All-Freshman Team honors in the 800 meters at the SEC Indoor Championships as the only rookie to compete in the final. Kay went on to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 800 later in the year. Foster also coached Kay to an indoor Second Team All-America honor in 2021 as a part of the Volunteers’ men’s DMR squad.
· He came to Tennessee from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he spent two years as the head cross country coach and assistant track & field coach.
· At Edinboro, Foster guided the women’s cross country team to a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) title in 2017 with five freshmen scoring.
· Foster took the Edinboro women from an 11th-place finish in the Atlantic Region in 2016 to a 19th-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships in 2017. He was named the PSAC and USTFCCCA Atlantic Region women’s cross country coach of the year following the 2017 season.
· On the track, Foster made PSAC history with his student-athletes winning all men’s middle and long distance races at the 2018 conference championships. He was later named the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Men’s Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year.
· Foster graduated from Penn State in 2011 after one of the most storied middle-distance careers in program history. He finished his athletic tenure in the Blue and White with three All-America finishes, including a pair of NCAA bronze-medal efforts as well as four Big Ten titles. During his competitive career, Foster set Australian national indoor records in the 800 meters and 1,000 meters and also competed in the IAAF World Indoor Championships, placing 19th in the 1,500 meters.
COACHING HONORS
· 2023 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year (Indoor)
· 2018 USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year
· 2017 PSAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year
· 2017 USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Women’s Cross Country Assistant Coach of the Year
PROMINENT ATHLETES COACHED
· Handal Roban (Penn State)
o 1x World Championships Qualifier (’23 - St. Vincent & the Grenadines - 800)
o 2x NCAA Bronze Medalist (’23 i/o 800)
o 3x First Team All-American (’23 i/o 800, ’24 indoor 800)
o 1x Second Team All-American (’24 outdoor 800)
o 1x Big Ten Champion (’24 indoor 600)
o 1x Big Ten Silver Medalist (’23 indoor 800)
o 3x Big Ten Bronze Medalist (’23 outdoor 800, ’24 i/o 800)
o 2x Big Ten Freshman of the Year (’23 i/o)
o 2x Mid-Atlantic Men’s Track Athlete of the Year (’23 i/o)
o No. 2 in Penn State history in the indoor 800 (1:46.81)
o No. 3 in Penn State history in the outdoor 800 (1:45.36)
o 4x St. Vincent & the Grenadines national record holder (i/o 800m, indoor 1000m, U20 800m)
· Hayley Kitching (Penn State)
o 2x First Team All-American (’24 i/o 800)
o 3x Big Ten Champion (indoor 600, i/o 800)
o 1x Mid-Atlantic Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year (’24 indoor)
o 1x Big Ten Women’s Track Athlete of the Year (’24 indoor)
o 1x Big Ten Women’s Track Athlete of the Championships (’24 indoor)
o 2x Big Ten Women’s Freshman of the Year (’23 i/o)
o 7x Penn State school record holder
§ Indoor 600 (1:26.97)
§ Indoor 800 (2:01.77 – NCAA No. 21 all-time)
§ Indoor DMR – 800m leg (10:49.05 – NCAA No. 7 all-time)
§ Outdoor 800 (2:00.70)
§ Outdoor 4x1500 (17:09.59 – NCAA No. 5 all-time)
§ Outdoor SMR – 800m leg (3:44.66 – NCAA No. 18 all-time)
§ Outdoor 4x800 (8:23.81 – NCAA No. 8 all-time)
· Rachel Gearing (Penn State)
o 1x Second Team All-American (’23 outdoor 800)
o 1x Big Ten Champion (’23 indoor 800)
o 1x Big Ten Silver Medalist (’23 outdoor 800)
o 2x NCAA Outdoor Championships Qualifier
o 1x Penn State school record holder
§ Outdoor 4x800 (8:23.81 – NCAA No. 8 all-time)
o No. 2 in school history in the outdoor 800 (2:01.24)
· Faith DeMars (Penn State)
o 2x Big Ten Champion (’23 i/o 5K)
o 1x Big Ten Silver Medalist (’23 indoor 3K)
o 1x Big Ten Bronze Medalist (’23 outdoor steeplechase)
o 1x USFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year (’23 outdoor)
o 1x NCAA All-Region in Cross Country (’22)
· Evan Dorenkamp (Penn State)
o 1x First Team All-American (‘23 outdoor 1500)
o 1x Second Team All-American (‘21 indoor mile)
o 2x Second Team All-Big Ten (‘23 1500, ’24 indoor mile)
o 2x Cross Country NCAA Mid-Atlantic All-Region Honoree (’21, ‘23)
o Penn State indoor mile record holder (3:55.02)
· Alex Kay (Tennessee)
o 1x Second Team All-American (’21 indoor DMR)
o 1x All-SEC Second Team
o 1x SEC Bronze Medalist (’21 indoor DMR)
o 1x SEC All-Freshman Team (’20)
o Set Tennessee school record in the indoor 1,000m (2:23.91)
o Tennessee freshman record holder in the indoor 1,000m (2:26.97)
THE FOSTER FILE
Personal
Year at Penn State: Fourth (Second as Associate Head Coach)
Hometown: Tasmania, Australia
Education: Penn State, 2011 – B.A. in Economics, minor in Business
Family: Wife: Kara
Coaching Career
2021-Present – Penn State
· 23-Present – Associate Head Coach - Distance
· 21-23 – Assistant Coach – Distance
2018-21 – Tennessee (Assistant Coach – Distance)
2016-18 – Edinboro (Head Coach – Distance)
2012-15 – Penn State
· 14-15 – Assistant Coach – Distance
· 13-14 – Director of Operations
· 12-13 – Volunteer Assistant Coach